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I'm always interested in seeing how other microbusiness owners making a living under their own volition.  One of my early role models was Herrick Kimball, creator of the Whizbang Chicken Plucker (among other farm-related inventions.)

To me, Herrick's microbusiness is a sure success because I've seen his product in use in multiple households.  It's cool, it works, and it even has a perfect name.  I like his idea of selling do-it-yourself guides in addition to physical products, too.

Herrick uses the same model we do to come up with ideas --- rather than reinventing the wheel, he bases his inventions on old timey tools or on modern gadgets in use by big businesses but unknown to the small farmer.  Clearly, you don't have to come up with your own idea to create a niche product; you just need to know a good product when you see one.

Perhaps Herrick's strongest microbusiness asset is his love of blogging.  His posts drives readers to his Whizbang business and make his products turn up higher in web searches.  Everybody who loves to blog should have a microbusiness since every blog post gives you more power in the cyber-world.

Despite all of the things that Herrick did right, as our own microbusiness grew, I started critiquing his microbusiness.  I subscribed to his blog and was surprised to discover that he still works full time in a factory job that he hates.  Rule 1 of our microbusiness path to financial independence is to make enough money so that you can stop doing anything you hate to do.  By those standards, Herrick's microbusiness is not a success yet.  (I suspect that Herrick makes just as much money from his microbusiness as we do from ours, but he has several kids and probably isn't as tied to frugality.)

I also wonder whether Herrick might not make more money if he started selling ebooks rather than sinking his capital into physical books.  Rule 2 of Microbusiness Independence is to keep your startup capital as low as possible so that you can quit your job quickly and really start living.  That said, I find very little else to complain about in Herrick's business.

I hope you're inspired to try your own hand at starting a microbusiness.  Check out our $4 ebook about starting a business for lots of tips that will help you quit your job twice as fast.